Needing to move on
by Snapes-little-matchmaker
Summary: Ben just can't take seeing Danny with Riley so decides to move out and set up a life with his daughter else where. While enrolling Emma in a day care he meets Luke and his son Tommy who goes to the school next door. They immediately connect and one thing leads to another...
1. Chapter 1

Danny was asking him to help him get with Riley. He wanted to be there for his brother. He loved him. But he still loved Riley. As much as he tried to hide it. Bury it deep inside. What was the point in this love. Everyone knew apparently, that all along it wasn't Riley and Ben. It was Riley and Danny.

"No" Ben whispered. "I can't I'm sorry." He picked up Emma and grabbed everything he needed to take her out and left the apartment pushing her in her buggy. Ignoring Danny's incessant calls that he had to help him he owed it to him. He just walked away with his daughter. He took her to the park and spent all day looking after the most important person in his life. Emma. He realised he would have to go back at some point as it would be getting dark soon.

Bonnie, Danny and Tucker were all talking animatedly when he arrived.

"Dude! Where have you been I needed your help!" Danny shouted.

"I needed to clear my head." Ben shrugged heading straight into his room and locking the door behind him and his now drowsy daughter. Putting his daughter down he left to see what mess was in the kitchen.

"BEN!" Bonnie shouted.

"Mum quiet. Emma is sleeping" Ben snapped. To be fair she had the decency to look guilty. For all his mums' faults and favouritism, he could not deny she loved that little girl. It hurt to see his daughter get the love and attention he had always craved as a child, but it also warmed his heart to now Emma had a grandmother who cared for her so much and would do anything for her. She might even put her before Danny.

"Sorry." Bonnie now spoke softer. "Where have you been, your brother needed you. We need to get him with Riley. If she knows you're ok with everything and support it she won't feel as guilty."

"I'm not" Ben whispered just loud enough for them to hear. "I'm sorry Danny. I want you to be happy I do. I just can't help you. I still love her. I know we can never be together now. I accept that. But you being with Riley it hurts to think about I'm sorry. I can't hold it in anymore. Maybe one day I will be ok with it. I won't stand in your way but I can't help you get with her."

They all looked shocked and they were now looking behind him. He turned around to see Riley in the doorway.

"You still love me?" Riley looked upset.

"Yes, but I know we can't be together. You love Danny. I'm not ok with it. I'm sorry but I'm not. All I ask is if you get together to please don't shove it in my face. I will try to get over it but let me do it in my own time not yours." At this he went to grab a drink from the fridge and went into his room. It hit him they were going to be together. Hanging round the flat being lovey dovey. He made a decision right then he needed to move.

He pulled out his phone and quickly started searching for cheap apartments. To be fair he could afford a decent two bed flat with owning the bar. Emma deserved her own room now she was getting bigger. He actually needed to look into a day care or play group. He knew his mum or tucker would always look after his angel but she needed to be around people her own age.

He ended up finding a real estate agent. Not his mother, he loved her but he needed someone impartial. He just needed a two bed close to work and for decent money. Yet for some reason the estate agent was showing him a 3 bed.

"Erm I don't think I can afford a three bed flat." Ben was sceptical.

"Oh don't worry the previous owners wanted it to go to a nice family something about keeping it a safe environment for the other residents kids, they said to sell it lower for anyone with kids. It's actually going to be cheaper than most two beds." The man laughed.

"Alright then." Ben smiled. It was in a nice area there was a park around the corner, yet not to far from work. He had also seen a school nearby. It was still a large apartment building but luckily there was two working lifts and the reception area was clean and inviting. Once he got the apartment he was taken a back. It was massive. It was open plan with quite a large kitchen dining room area and a carpeted living room. The carpet was a chocolate brown and there were cream walls. The master bedroom was ensuite and very spacious. There was a decent sized bathroom between two smaller rooms of equal size. One would make an awesome room for Emma. The entire flat had a cream and brown colour scheme so he would want to repaint and possibly get new carpets right away. Emma's would be the top priority. Make it bright and colourful.

After a quick look around he just turned to the estate agent. Mike?

"Where do I sign?" The guy just laughed.

"I will send the papers over. You can move in as soon as everything is signed. Have you secured a mortgage?" He asked

"Erm there's no need. My grandma gave me some money before she died. To look after Emma and my dad gave me some when I turned 21 apparently he felt guilty about how my mum favoured my brother and how he was always distracted. Turned out good in the end as I can afford this outright." Ben explained.

"Great. We can sign today and I can get you the keys by the end of the week." He smiled.

Ben just looked around actually looking forward to starting a proper home with Emma. The home she deserved.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclosure: I don't own Baby Daddy. No copyright infringement intended

Luckily Danny and tucker were busy working the next day so he could start packing quickly. It soon became apparent he didn't have that much to take. Luckily the money he had gotten from family would help buy furniture. He wasn't too bothered by his room but he wanted Emma's room to be perfect. He had rung his dad to give him the heads up about him moving knowing it would cause drama. Surprisingly he reacted well, saying he was proud of Ben for moving forward as well as looking out for Emma. What was even more surprising was the $5000 they transferred to him and they told him they had started a ban account for Emma when she was older. Apparently is Dads new feller was loaded. At least he had lots of toys for Emma's room so it was mainly the floors and walls. He needed to get new Livingroom furniture and restock kitchen ware, but he had everything for his room and was in no rush to fill the spare room just yet.

The problems didn't start till everyone came home. Everyone. Danny and Riley were wrapped around each other and Bonnie and Tucker were cooing over them. The mood shifted when they saw Ben packing stuff into boxes.

"What's going on?" Tucker asked.

"Ermm. I'm moving. I found a great place, in a good area. It will be great for Emma as its close to a school and daycare. Not too far from work and it was really cheap. Don't worry tucker I will give you rent for the next two months." Ben gushed, in love with his new home.

"WHAT!" Bonnie screamed distressing Emma. She looked guilty at that and seemed to try and calm down.

"I need to do this mom" Ben pleaded. "I can't see Danny and Riley all over each other all day and I need to put Emma first. She's getting big. She can't stay in a crib in the corner of my room for much longer. This place is amazing it will be perfect for her to grow up in. We have both loved living here but its not a home for a little girl."

Bonnie still looked mad but she could see what Ben meant. Emma came first.

"I'm not happy with this. With you not telling us. But I understand why you did it." Bonnie conceded.

"Thanks mom. You can visit anyway. I know Emma's going to miss her Grandma." Ben smiled earning a glare from Bonnie at the word grandma.

"And his uncle Tuck" Tucker piped up going to cuddle with the little girl already missing her.

"Of course, you will have to visit loads" Ben laughed.

Danny and Riley didn't say anything and Ben had a feeling they wouldn't visit much if at all. Which he was slightly thankful for.

It didn't take long to get the flat ready he spent a week decorating and moving in new furniture. Emma wasn't a total girly girl so he decided to get in a artist friend and made a woodland mural around the room. He kept her crib for now but knew he would have to upgrade her to a toddler bed soon. He didn't want to change too much too soon. He had gone for a pale blue in the living room and a dark coloured couch. It all looked very grown up. His room better reflected his personality as it was full of his stuff.

He had splashed out on a nice TV and got an Xbox for the Livingroom. He knew Emma would be watching it more than him anyway. It had all come together and Emma already seemed in love with her room. Bonnie and Tucker had helped him move everything in and had been impressed with his new digs.

Today was the day he moved in and he was very excited.

"You know that spare room would make a good office. That way you could work from home more and Emma wouldn't have to hang around the bar so much with her getting older." Bonnie mused.

"Yeah that's a good point mom" Ben enthused. "I have actually been looking at my financials and how the bars going and I have been looking at expanding and getting a loan from the bank to do it. The bar can run itself if we get a manager and I am thinking of investing in one nearby. A mate of mine works there and he said the boss is looking to retire and he's looking to sell at a decent price. Its needs a bit of a refurb but will be really successful."

"That's awesome Ben. You know I wasn't a fan of you taking over the bar but you've proved what your capable of." Bonnie encouraged. Ben smiled and finished unpacking his new kitchen set.

"So are you actually putting Emma in day care?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah. I appreciate that you and tucker will look after her when I'm working and I love that she gets to spend time with her but she needs to socialise with people her own age and make friends." Ben explained.

"That makes sense. Cant believe how big she is getting." Bonnie gushed.

"I know. She never stops growing" Ben whispered.

"They never do" Bonnie smiled.

It was a touching moment between the two something they rarely had.

It was a quiet night for the two of them and Emma was so tired with the move she slept right through the night in her new room.

The next day seeing as Ben wasn't in work she decided to visit the day-care to try and enrol Emma. It was a nice little place next to a friendly looking school. He was met by a very charming receptionist.

"Hello how may I help you?" The receptionist giggled slightly

"Hi I am Ben and this is Emma my daughter and I was looking at getting her enrolled in day care and wondered if you had any places." Ben smiled.

"Your in luck we actually have just had a few more to kindergarten in the school next door. I will get someone to talk to you." She wandered off and came back a few minutes later with a young man.

"Hi Ben my name is Adam I help run the day care. Do you know how things work here?" He smiled

"Erm not really" Ben started getting nervous.

"Oh don't worry too much." Adam placated. "We take on kids from about a year old which Emma obviously is. We look after them till they are able to go to the school next door. We start with interview sessions where we have the parents leave them for 2-3 hours to see how they cope and whether they are ready for day care yet. All things going well we will start with 5 hours' care for 2 days and over time build up to 3 days a week till they are 3 and look at full time child care afterwards. If that's ok with you. Some parents want their kids to attend more but we don't want to overload them." Adam explained in a well rehearsed speech

"That sounds perfect. I will admit Emma was a bit unexpected and because none of my friends have kids she hasn't met a lot of other kids her age. I want her to socialise with other kids more but I also still want to spend a lot of time with her while she's still young." Ben gushed.

"That's great, well we have enough time to give Emma an interview session today and we could go over the boring paperwork and adult stuff if you want?" Adam beamed.

"That's great. What do you think Emma? Would you like to go and play?" Ben cooed at his little angel.

Adam led the way to one of the colourful rooms. There were about 14 toddlers about Emma's age in there and everything was bright and inviting. They was a young woman talking to the little kids.

"Hi Miss Turner. This is Emma she is here for an interview session." Adam introduced.

"Well hello Emma I'm Miss Turner and this is the sunflower room we were just about to read a story together. Do you want to join us?" She spoke with an overly cheerful personality. Emma looked up at Ben nervously.

He crouched down to placate her, "don't worry baby, it will be fun and it won't be for too long. I love you" She seemed to be reassured and walked over cautiously.

Adam then took Ben to a small office which was a bit more toned down.

"Ok we need to fill in legal documentation and other stuff. A bit boring but needs to be done. Then I will go into a bit more detail about costs and how things work around here." Ben just nodded. By the time they were done there was still half an hour till the end of the day.

"You can either wait here or you can wait by the entrance to collect her. The entrance is where all the day care and first grade kids get picked up and Miss Turner will give her verdict if Emma will be able to cope with day care. If its good news you can arrange with her when you want her to next come and we can work out at the next session what days you want to bring her in." Adam explained

"Thanks. I think I will wait at the entrance meet some of the other mums and dads. It would be nice to meet other parents I don't really know any at the moment." Adam seemed to beam at his reply.

He was only stood there for ten minutes when parents started to arrive. He started to feel self-conscious when they were all a good 5-10 years his senior. He started to move closer to the day care entrance when someone ran into him.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" It was a tall man slightly taller than Ben and quite built, clean shaven with dark hair. He was quite handsome.

"Its Ok really" Ben laughed blushing slightly. He was always slightly Bi. Though only attracted to a small selection of men. This man was in the selection. "No harm done, I'm Ben by the way" He held out his hand to shake.

"I'm Luke. I've not seen you around before" Luke smiled shaking his hand while checking him out.

"My daughter Emma is having her interview session at the day care" Ben smiled shyly.

"Awesome, my son Tommy just moved into kindergarten. He's still really nervous bless him." Luke laughed.

"Aww bless." Ben cooed. "It's actually awesome talking to another parent. I don't really know any" He was now babbling.

Luke just laughed gently "I know what you mean, my ex-girlfriend found out she was pregnant and didn't want it so just left me with Tommy and signed over the rights. Swore off women right then. But it was hard to find other people who understood you know" Luke winked at the swearing off women comment.

"Ah right. Emma's mother was a one night stand and she just left her on my doorstep. So I understand the feeling" Ben explained.

"Shit. On your doorstep. At least my ex told me before she gave birth and was there when she handed him over." Luke frowned.

"Its fine. Well it's not but she's not part of Emma's life now." Ben tried to lift the atmosphere. "Oh it looks like the kids are coming out now, I better go pick her up. It was really nice meeting you Luke" Ben gave Luke his best charming smile.

"Nice meeting you too Ben" Luke flashed his own heart melting smile.

Ben dashed off to meet Emma at the door. Miss Turner was stood there to make sure the kids went with the right parents.

"Hi Miss Turner. How did my little angel do?" Ben asked nervously.


End file.
